Henry Blake

Henry Braymore Blake (1903-1951) was a Lieutenant-Colonel of the US Army who was commander of the 4,077th MASH during the Korean War.

Biography
Henry Braymore Blake was born in 1903 in Bloomington, Illinois, United States. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign while studying medicine and was the athletic trainer for the football team before being commissioned into the US Army shortly before World War II. Blake saw action in the Pacific War, and he rose to the rank of Major at the end of the conflict. Stationed in Japan, Blake was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and commander of the 4,077th MASH unit in the Korean War. Blake was loved by his soldiers for being down-to-earth and good-hearted, and his unit had a 97% casualty survival rate due to their efficiency. By 1951, he had served on the front long enough to return home to his wife and their newborn child, but his plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan with no survivors before he could make it home.